Directions Media - Podcasts

Podcast: Delivering Maps to the FBI

(Adena Schutzberg) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 01:00:00 -0500

This past week two geospatial practitioners were cited for their good work by the FBI. What did they do? At the request of the Bureau, they went online and found some Digital Raster Graphics, scanned quad maps, printed them and gave them to agents working in their area. Is this how agents and others in the federal government, or even citizens, should get their geographic data? What does this scenario reveal about the FBI? The state of our geospatial infrastructure? The value of the geospatial workforce?

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Podcast: Why not code the real world?

(Adena Schutzberg) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 01:00:00 -0500

While much money is spent noting attributes of physical objects on paper maps or in electronic files, only for them to be of limited use in the field, why do we not simply code more real world object with key information? In Akron fire hydrants are coded with their water pressure by their colored domes. Even as we put all this information into databases, should we also think more about simply it putting it right where it's needed?

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Podcast: Location-based Advertising...It's Not Working...Here's Why

joe.francica@directionsmag.com (Joe Francica) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 09:00:00 -0500

In the much-hyped, Madison Avenue world of mobile location-based advertising, the Holy Grail seems within the grasp for retailers looking for that one-to-one marketing nirvana oft cited in the early nineties. But in its current model, its not working the way it should or can. Today's business model uses "push" advertising to mobile devices. But what if the model should be "pull" thus allowing consumers to determine when, where and how they should receive ads. Editor in chief Joe Francica explores this model and more.

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Podcast: Spatial Databases: A Commodity?

(Adena Schutzberg) — Tue, 9 Jun 2009 01:00:00 -0500

This week's question: Is the spatial database a commodity? With all the big database players storing and querying spatial data and several open source offerings in the market, is spatial no longer special when in comes to the database world? Is it time to "stop getting excited" about the addition of spatial support and simply use the technology?

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Podcast: A Geospatial Look at Data.gov

(Adena Schutzberg) — Tue, 2 Jun 2009 01:00:00 -0500

Last week the federal government launched data.gov, a data portal to enhance transparency. What's in it for geospatial practitioners and how will the new offering evolve? Our editors share their thoughts on the current offering and some possible paths forward.

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Podcast: Exclusive Interview with Greg Bentley, CEO, Bentley Systems

joe.francica@directionsmag.com (Joe Francica) — Sun, 31 May 2009 13:32:00 -0500

Recently, Editor in Chief Joe Francica met with Greg Bentley, CEO of Bentley Systems, the geospatial and engineering software and solutions company. He sat down with Bentley at his office in Exton, PA and discussed the company's focus on infrastructure, a timely topic given the global investments being made by many countries to stem the economic downturn. Bentley discussed the company's financial position and how the economy has affected revenue performance. He mentioned that the company reached two significant milestones this year: Bentley attained $500M in revenue in 2008 and it will also celebrate 25 years in business. This audio interview lasts approximately 25 minutes and was recorded on May 19th, 2009.

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Podcast: DigitalGlobe IPO: Pushing Geospatial into IT?

(Adena Schutzberg) — Tue, 19 May 2009 01:00:00 -0500

This week DigitalGlobe joined the ranks of other companies that are publicly traded. Does this move and the related buzz help move geospatial technology into the realm of the broader information technology space? How should we see this change? Also: concerns about GeoEye-1 push that company's stock down.

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Podcast: The Texas Map Disclaimer Bill

(Adena Schutzberg) — Tue, 12 May 2009 01:00:00 -0500

A bill before the Texas legislature will require a disclaimer to accompany geospatial data products created or hosted by a government body if the data "was not produced using information from an on-the-ground survey conducted by or under the supervision of a registered professional land surveyor." Our editors think through the implications of such a bill and ask surveyors to add their input.

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Podcast: Why would a Hyperlocal News Site Drop Maps?

(Adena Schutzberg) — Tue, 5 May 2009 01:00:00 -0500

This week we take a look at YourStreet, at one time a cutting edge hyperlocal site that tapped into key location technologies. Last week in an e-mail the company explained that due to cost it was dropping maps. The upside? Pages load faster. We'll try to think through the logic of this move and the future of hyperlocal news.

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Podcast: Should Geospatial Education Create Subject Matter Experts or Geospatial Thinkers?

(Adena Schutzberg) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 01:00:00 -0500

Do we encourage the next generation of young geospatial professionals to get degrees in specific disciplines such as geology, forestry, urban planning, etc. or do we train them to be geospatial thinker" with a degree in GIS? This was the question posed at a panel at last week's Geospatial Infrastructure Solutions Conference. This week we review the panelists' thoughts and offer up our opinions.

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Podcast: Exploring the Geospatial Lexicon

(Adena Schutzberg) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 01:00:00 -0500

This week we look at some new and old terms creeping into and out of conversations about location technology. Have you heard about Hybrid GIS or Dislocation Intelligence? What words stay with us and which disappear?

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Podcast: Gathering Data from the Asia Pacific Region-Obstacles and Successes

joe.francica@directionsmag.com (Joe Francica) — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 06:07:00 -0500

Geospatial data are relatively easy to obtain in the U.S. but what about in the Asia Pacific region where government policy differs widely from country to country. In fact, todays challenges in the region have moved from acquiring the spatial foundation data (streets, basic demographics, and political boundaries) to data with finer demographic and geographic granularity. Editor in chief Joe Francica spoke with Sean Richards, director of product management for Pitney Bowes Business Insight (PBBI) in Brisbane, Australia, and Scott Robinson, director of global data products for PBBI about the obstacles to success and whether countries recognize the benefit of a more open data policy.
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Podcast: The State of GeoData Formats

(Adena Schutzberg) — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 01:00:00 -0500

This week we look at geodata formats - what's new, what's needed, what's working and what's not. Among our topics: Google's newly announced Map Data API, the Shapefile 2.0 Manifesto, SpatiaLite and the state of KML in the wild.

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Podcast: Any Game Changers in LBS Yet?

(Adena Schutzberg) — Tue, 7 Apr 2009 01:00:00 -0500

Many announcements related to location-based services came out of the CTIA show last week, including winners of the NAVTEQ LBS Challenge. Were any truly game changing? Our editors look at the current state of LBS and what may be ahead.

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Podcast: The Demo-er's Dilemma

(Adena Schutzberg) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 01:00:00 -0500

This week our editors look at something everyone in geospatial has likely presented or viewed: a demo. Has the importance of demos changed over the years? Does the medium matter? And, if the story is so good, do you even need to see one?

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